Devices for the cleaning of teeth serve for removing impurities from the surface of the teeth and from regions between the teeth.
A device of the type mentioned above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,352. As shown in FIG. 1, the device is a tooth brush comprising a handle and a head arranged at one end thereof. On the head, a cleaning means is provided, the surface of which is formed by a plurality of groups of bristles. The groups of bristles extend perpendicularly with respect to a plane of the head and parallelly to each other and are fixed in cups. The cups are supported elastically in sockets in the head by means of springs. Thus, each group of bristles is movable normal to the plane of the head independently of the other groups of bristles. In that way, the distance between the surface of the cleaning means and the groups of bristles can be varied. Consequently, the surface of the cleaning means formed by the ends of the groups of bristles is deformable. Thus, in the use of the tooth brush, the surface of the cleaning means adapts to inequalities of teeth and gums within the range of spring. In the use of groups of bristles, it is disadvantageous that each group of bristles only comes in punctual contact with the teeth. In order to attain a sufficient cleaning result, the user has to move the bristles several times across surface of the teeth. This results in a long cleaning term and possible hurt of the gums.
Another device of the type mentioned above is used for polishing teeth in professional dental treatment. The device comprises a cylindrical cleaning means made of rubber mounted on a cylindrical body. One end of the cylindrical body may be clamped in a burr. In order to polish, a polishing paste is applied on the teeth to be polished, the burr is activated, so that the body with the cleaning means rotates at high speed about its longitudinal axis, and the rotating surface of the cleaning means is brought into contact with the surfaces of the teeth to be cleaned. It is not possible to clean regions between the teeth or between the teeth and the gums, because the surface of the cleaning means only adapts to the surface to be cleaned to a very small extend. A contact with the gums in combination with the high number of revolutions would cause the gums to hurt. However, the expenditure of device is very high so that a private use is not appropriate.
Thus, what is needed, but seemingly unavailable in the art is a device for the cleaning of teeth which provides a thorough, quick and gentle cleaning of teeth.